Brenda's Boy Trouble/Part 2
Back in the Smurf Village, Duncan McSmurf was helping Tapper carry kegs of sarsaparilla ale from his distillery to his tavern. "Michty me, laddie, you sure have a loadful of kegs to carry of your finest ale," Duncan said. "Well, I can't help it if you're the one who smurfs the most ale in the village, my friend," Tapper said. "At least I know that it will not smurf to waste around here." "Anyway, while I would still rejoice at Gargamel no longer smurfing us anymore trouble from where he is now, it just smurfs me that another like him would smurf his place at trying to capture us," Duncan said. "I know what you mean, Duncan," Tapper said. "But I can rest assured knowing that our good friend Empath is monitoring the village to make sure that the likes of this Severus will not smurf the upper hand on us." "But what if he should capture Empath and make him smurf his evil will?" Duncan asked. "I'd hate to have to fight against my fellow Smurf in that day." "We will deal with the situation in the event that it does happen, my friend," Tapper answered. Then suddenly the Smurfs looked up and saw that a young girl on a broomstick was circling down toward the village square. Tapper and Duncan noticed who it was. "It's that young witch Brenda," Duncan said. "She's returned." "And so have our friends from the forest with her," Tapper added. "I could only wonder what the purpose of her visit here is this time." The Smurfs have gathered around the young girl after she landed. Empath approached with Polaris beside him. "Smurfette, who is this young girl who has entered our village?" he asked. "This smurf could sense that she is a friend." "Empath, this is Brenda, the young witch," Smurfette answered. "She came here some years ago to learn how to smurf good with her abilities, when her teacher wanted her to smurf evil for a lesson in witchcraft." "Salutations, Brenda," Empath greeted. "This smurf can sense that you are joyful about something that has happened to you today." "Oh, that I am, Empath," Brenda said. "Oh, I met a wonderful boy today in the forest. He's so handsome and so refined." "Oh, and he's the one who will take you to the Broomstick Ball," Smurfette added. "I couldn't be more pleased for you." "Da, da, da, da!" Painter sang, sounding excited at the prospect. "After we finish with you, you will sweep him off his feet." "I'll sweep him!" Brenda shouted, throwing out her arms, though in the process she caused her broom to fly out of her hand and start sweeping Clumsy away. Painter chuckled at the sight. "That's not exactly what I had in mind, mademoiselle," Painter said. "That is rather sudden for a young woman like her to have feelings of attraction toward a young man her age, Empath," Polaris said. "You know, being attracted to somebody can happen suddenly, Polaris," Empath said. "That's what happened when this smurf first met Smurfette on my 150th birthday when this smurf came home." "Still, this one would recommend caution for someone like her, for this one senses that she barely knows this young man that she is attracted to," Polaris said. "Your recommendation is duly noted, Polaris," Empath said. ----- And so the Smurfs gathered around to give Brenda some pointers on how she could attract her potential love interest's attention. "Lesson number one: the way to a boy's heart is through his stomach," Greedy said as he held out a cream pie before devouring it in one bite. "Well, at least that's the way to my heart." "That's what me and Greedy both have in common, Brenda," Nabby commented. "What you need is lots of self-confidence, my dear," Vanity said. "Tell yourself fifty times a day, 'I am charming, I am beautiful, I am magnificently good-looking'." He then looked at himself in his hand mirror and added, "Fortunately in my case, it's true." He followed that up with a kiss to his reflection. Jokey laughed. "Here's a foolproof way to make a boy like you," he said. "Smurf him a nice present like this." He then gave Brenda one of his gift boxes, which she then opened, only to find that it exploded in her face. "And make sure that it explodes when it opens. That will show him that you have a sense of humor," he added. Brenda sounded confused. "I...I don't get it," she said. "Neither does anyone else," Smurfette said, glaring angrily at Jokey for his seemingly thoughtless suggestion. "Brenda, it's time some Smurf taught you the workings of the heart. Come with me out into the forest and I will smurf you." Tapper and Duncan both watched as Smurfette headed out into the forest with Brenda for a private talk. "Well, the boys certainly aren't smurfing the raven-haired lassie any good ideas on how she could win the heart of the laddie she's smurfing after," Duncan commented. "They're smurfing their best with what they know with their interactions with Smurfette, my good Duncan," Tapper said. "Perhaps it is time that Smurfette personally talked to her with some advice best suited for females." "If only we could have remained females from the time we smurfed that magic egg into the village and started smurfing those wishes," Duncan said. "Then we could have smurfed Brenda more advice that she could use in her pursuit of love." "I'm pretty sure Smurfette is capable is smurfing this by herself, Duncan," Tapper said. "I'm not quite eager to revisit being another gender in order to smurf additional knowledge." "But you still were quite the beautiful lassie when you were one, Tapper," Duncan said while chuckling afterward. Tapper felt rather irritated by that comment. "Please don't remind me of that." ----- Out alone in the forest with each other, Brenda started talking with Smurfette. "Everybody has given me such wonderful advice, but I still don't know what to do," she said. "There's nothing you really need to do, Brenda," Smurfette said. "The only thing you need is to just be yourself." "Really?" Brenda asked. "It couldn't be that simple, could it?" "If he's the right one for you, he'll appreciate you just the way you are," Smurfette said. "I hope so, because I know he's the right boy for me," Brenda said. "Now all I have to do is find him. Maybe he's still at the bog. Goodbye, Smurfette, and thank you." "Good luck to you, Brenda," Smurfette said as she watched the young witch get back on her broomstick and then fly off. Empath joined Smurfette as she was still standing there watching Brenda fly off. "This smurf senses that our young human visitor has gone off in search for her love interest, Smurfette," Empath said. "I want her to feel just as smurfy for finding that someone special for her as I feel for having you be that someone special to me, Empath," Smurfette said. "We'll just have to let time and nature be her guide and grant her wisdom in that circumstance, Smurfette," Empath said. "This smurf doesn't want her to get hurt by whoever it is she's seeking after." "How could you think that she could get hurt by the one her heart is after, Empath?" Smurfette asked. "We just don't know who it is, Smurfette," Empath replied. "For what we know, it could be that young man that Severus has as his apprentice." "You mean that bratty little boy called Jeanty?" Smurfette said, sounding a bit repulsed. "Empath Smurf, how could you even assume that is who Brenda is interested in?" "This smurf is not here to make such reckless jumps to conclusions, Smurfette," Empath said. "This smurf just wants what's best for Brenda and protect her from something terrible, just as this smurf wants what's best for you." "I don't need to be constantly protected, Empath, and neither does Brenda," Smurfette said rather coldly before she walked off and left Empath alone by himself. ----- Meanwhile, Jeanty is having an unpleasant time doing menial work for his master by digging into the murky waters of the bog with a shovel, collecting slime fungus in a bucket. His cat Rascal was there with him to watch, although his face was turned away from the foul smell emanating from the stinkberries in the bog. "Oh, slime fungus!" Jeanty grumbled. "This really takes the cake. While Master Severus is getting dressed for the ball, I get stuck with slime fungus. If I ever get my hands on that little witch's wand, I'll bury that crazy Smurf-minded sorcerer in a pile of slime fungus." Jeanty was so preoccupied with his digging that he didn't realize that Brenda was standing right behind him until a shovel full of slime fungus was flung into her face. "Aaah!" she yelped. Jeanty turned around and saw that it was Brenda. "Hey, it's you!" he said, sounding a bit pleased. "Hello," Brenda said, finding herself smitten by his appearance. "I...I...I'm sorry that I got you so messy with that slime fungus," Jeanty said. "Why don't I hold your wand while you freshen up?" "Oh, I must look awful," Brenda said after looking at her appearance being ruined by slime fungus. "Hold on, and I'll have this problem taken care of." She then raised up her wand and recited, "Take this mud, and in its place, leave a clean and shining face." Jeanty watched as the magic wand caused Brenda to glow for a brief second until she appeared clean and immaculate, without a single stain or wrinkle. "Wow, what a wand!" he exclaimed to himself. "I can't let her get away." "There, that's much better," Brenda said as she now looked at herself without the slime fungus on her. "I must look my best for the Broomstick Ball tonight. By the way, are you going to the ball?" "Hah! Are you out of your mind?" Jeanty reacted rather negatively. Brenda sighed, sounding a bit sad. "Oh. I thought you might be interested. I guess I'll have to go find some other boy wizard who will." Jeanty looked at Brenda's heartbroken expression on her face and then thought to himself, If I take her to that silly school dance, maybe I'd get a chance to snatch her wand. He then turned to Brenda and called out her name, stopping her before she flew off. "Uh, Brenda, about that ball tonight, how would you like to...?" "Oh, yes, I would love to!" Brenda replied rather eagerly. "By the way, what's your name?" "Uh, Jeanty, but you can call me Jeanty the Great, because that's what I'm going to be when I grow up," the boy responded. "Oh, what a beautiful name, Jeanty," Brenda said, sounding like she was lovestruck. "Anyway, as I said, I would love to go with you to the Broomstick Ball." "Great," Jeanty said, also sounding eager. "I'll meet you at the door at moonrise." "I'll be there, my sweetheart," Brenda said, her eyes still looking unto Jeanty with expectation. She got onto her broomstick and flew off, giggling to herself and sounding pleased. "I can't wait to tell Smurfette that I have a date with the boy of my dreams." "Just don't forget to bring your magic wand, sweetheart," Jeanty said as he was still waving her goodbye and watching her fly off, though Brenda was too preoccupied with the prospect of having him as a Broomstick Ball date to even notice him saying anything. He then laughed evilly at the thought of getting hands on that wand. ----- Meanwhile, at the Sorcerer's Guild Academy, the Dean of Wizards Albus Dumberton oversaw all the preparations for the Broomstick Ball that he invited the young witches of Witch Haven Conservatory to attend with their young wizard dates. He sighed as he watched all the decorations be put up in the grand hall, with the ceiling lit up with thousands of artificial stars, giving the illusion that they would be dancing under a beautiful night sky. He remembered when he was just a young student himself in the Academy and had a date of his own to dance with at that same age, how beautiful she was for a young witch. He could only hope to know what became of that witch when she grew up to become a woman. Merriwind, his assistant, interrupted his personal contemplations. "Dean Albus, we were wondering if it was a wise decision to allow that disgraced teacher Severus back on our grounds after his...uh, unfortunate incident of teaching a forbidden subject that we don't discuss," Merriwind said. "About the existence of those mythical Smurfs?" Albus said, realizing what Merriwind was talking about. "Yes, well, I'm of a mind that we could give Severus another chance to recant such teachings and become a useful professor in our ranks once again." "I just wish that he didn't have a student of ours, another troublesome youth much like Scruple, become his apprentice to learn things that a youth shouldn't be learning about," Merriwind said with some foreboding. "I know Jeanty is a troublemaker, as his uncle Adelbert Lebon can attest to in our dealings with the lad," Albus said. "I promised Adelbert that he would not become such a menace as to endanger our academy with his antics as a sorcerer-in-training. Whether the lad will learn his lesson or not is one we hope to see have a favorable outcome." "One can only pray that the Lords of Light and Goodness will watch over the young boy and make sure that he doesn't slip into darkness, as such young boys his age are prone to doing," Merriwind said. "Master, the Raging Unicorns have just arrived with their instruments," an assistant came to tell Dean Albus. Albus nodded in acceptance to the news. "Yes, well, show them to the stage where they can set themselves up for tonight's entertainment, please," he responded. "Yes, Dean Albus," the assistant said, bowing briefly before he left. Merriwind seemed a little perturbed. "The Raging Unicorns? Dean Albus, I don't mean to question your decisions in such preparations, but do you think it is wise to expose the youth in our academy to such wild and racuous music that this music band will be playing tonight at our ball?" he asked. "We were all exposed to something that our own parents would disagree with as far as appropriateness, Merriwind," Albus responded. "I will make sure that our youths will exercise caution and behavior that is becoming of our academy's standards, but I don't think any harm will come of our youth partaking of today's entertainment in their generation's Broomstick Ball." Merriwind simply nodded. "Yes, Dean Albus, I understand." Smurf to Part 3 Category:Empath the Luckiest Smurf stories Category:Brenda's Boy Trouble chapters